A conversation with Wright down in Ft. Myers shone some light on the answers.

1. GRIPPING THE KNUCKLEBALL

The pitch obviously is called a knuckleball but it's more about using the fingertips.

"I know me and Wake, our grip is similar but the position on the ball is a little different," Wright explained. "I know (Tom) Candiotti held it a little different. I think pretty much everybody else besides Candiotti that I've talked to kind of held it the same way, just different positioning on the ball."

"I don't really think there's a right or wrong way," Wright added. "The key is just to kill the spin.

"Over the years, talking with Charlie (Hough) and Wake, I've kind of tinkered with it a little bit. But for the most part, it's been pretty consistent as far as how I hold it and where I hold it on the ball."

"With Wake, the thing is that he threw his slower than mine," Wright said. "But we both throw it pretty much the same way."

Wright has thrown his knuckleball at an average speed of 73.5 mph over his 50 career outings (35 starts), per Fangraphs.com. Dickey's knuckleball has averaged 75.8 mph. But Wakefield threw his at an average speed of 66.2 mph from 2002-11.

"Me and him (Wakefield) are pretty similar on how we get to our balance points, our load," Wright said.

Much of the conversation has to do with mechanics.

"Today we were talking about lower half and how to stay back over the rubber and to be more consistent in the release point," Wright said. "It's not so much your arm that you've got to worry about. It's the lower half."

Wright and Wakefield also have discussed finger pressure.

They sometimes play catch together -- or Wakefield will watch Wright play catch with someone else.

"And if something stands out we'll kind of talk about it," Wright said. "For me, I like to ask a lot of questions."

Wakefield often is around the spring training complex and Fenway Park. But he doesn't travel with the team.

"There's going to come a point even during the season when I'm on the road or something and I don't have him like I do now. So I try to utilize the time with him and try to think of any questions or any scenario that could possibly come up."

Wakefield went 16-8 with a 2.95 ERA in 27 starts during 1995, his first year with the Red Sox. But he then posted a 14-13 record with a 5.14 ERA in 32 starts during 1996.

Wakefield was consistently reliable. He did whatever the team asked (starting, long relief, closing). But his stats weren't as consistent from year to year. He experienced brilliant, average and below-average seasons.

Understanding the unpredictability that goes with throwing the knuckleball, can Wright repeat his 2016 success?

"I don't see why I couldn't," Wright said. "I feel like if you've done it once, you can do it again. It's one of those things. I know what his (Wakfield's) numbers are and he was pretty consistent throughout the 19 years or so that he played. I think that's the only thing you can ask for is consistency. I think every time he took the ball they knew what they were going to get out of him. And that's what I want to do."

Wright made the AL All-Star team in 2016. He made just three starts during the final two months because of his shoulder injury but he finished with an impressive 13-6 record and 3.33 ERA in 24 starts.

"For me, obviously I always try to be better than I was last year. So it's just one of those things that I can't think about the outcome. I've just got to think about the process. And the process is right now just trying to get my shoulder and my body back into pitching shape."

Dickey told MassLive.com last season that Wright's mid-80s fastball complements his knuckleball nicely. Dickey said the fastball can be used as a real weapon when thrown at that speed along with the knuckleball.

"More so than maybe like Tim," Dickey said. "Tim could only throw about 80 mph -- 79, 80.

"But the thing that's so difficult to do that he (Wright) is able to do as well as most knuckleballers that have had success is he's able to throw a fastball, then go right back to the knuckleball," Dickey added.

4. WHAT DID WRIGHT'S SHOULDER FEEL LIKE LAST YEAR?

Wright suffered his shoulder injury Aug. 5 in Los Angeles vs. the Dodgers, diving back into the second base bag while pinch running.

"When I would get ready to throw the ball with intensity, it was just like a sharp pinch at the top of my shoulder to whereas I had to compensate and change arm angles," he said. "And basically your body is just trying to do anything it can to not hurt but still throw the ball."

He said he felt fine playing catch.

"But the moment I would try to throw it with some force on the mound, my shoulder felt like it was moving in the socket. So basically it was pinching and just producing a sharp pain on top of my shoulder."

Wright lived in Nashville during the offseason.

"There were good days and bad days (throwing)," he said. "When I got down here and I started really stepping up the intensity, it started to dwindle down. So now I don't even think about it."